10 Films That Should Have Earned Julianne Moore An Oscar Before ‘Still Alice’

At last night’s 87th Academy Awards ceremony, Julianne Moore finally got her due after being nominated for five times Oscars in the last fifteen years. Moore was all the buzz this awards season between her starkly different, yet equally powerful, performances in David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars and the adaptation of Lisa Genova’s Still Alice, for which she snagged the gold man Best Actress in a Leading Role.

If you’ve yet to see Still Alice, Moore plays an accomplished linguistics professor who gets the crushing diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Moore’s performance has been regarded as game-changing in how middle-aged individuals are perceived when they slowly deteriorate into shells of their former selves. Alzheimer’s is too often labeled as an “old person’s” ailment, one that turns your slightly forgetful grandmother into your extremely forgetful grandmother. This is not the only reality, as Alzheimer’s can affect men and women as young as 50 and in rare cases, even earlier. Filmmakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland handle this tragic disease with grace and dignity and, through Moore, the pair sheds light on an illness that too often takes a back-burner in scientific research.

This isn’t Moore’s first rodeo when it comes to extremely complex roles, however, as these career-defining films remind us the actress has always been top-notch and that her Oscar win was long overdue.

'A Single Man' (2009)

Photo: Everett Collection

Tom Ford wrote the role of Charley with Moore in mind, knowing she would be the perfect counter and comic relief to George (Colin Firth), who debates suicide after the tragic loss of his boyfriend. All seriousness aside, that hairdo alone deserved an award. [Where to stream A Single Man]

'The End of the Affair' (1999)

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Why couldn’t Moore and Ralph Fiennes stay together forever? What a darn tease that movie was. In her Oscar-nominated role, Moore plays Sarah, mistress to author Maurice Bendrix (Fiennes) and the sexy time begins. [Where to stream The End of the Affair]

'The Big Lebowski' (1998)

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The only dude-ess among the bowling crew, Moore played Maude Lebowski, daughter of the other Lebowski, the one who owes bad people a lot of money. After the mix-up entwines Maude and The Dude — spoiler alert — are expecting a Little Lebowski. Joel and Ethan, where is that sequel, bros? [Where to stream The Big Lebowski]

'Far from Heaven' (2002)

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Moore snagged her fourth Oscar nod, second of the year, for her role in Todd Haynes’ acclaimed drama about Cathy Whitaker, whose comfy Connecticut life is turned upside down when her husband (Dennis Quaid), reveals he’s gay. [Where to stream Far from Heaven]

'Magnolia' (1999)

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A disjointed, day-in-the-life narrative revolving around a group of Angelenos as a plague of frogs marks the end of the world. After Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the role of Linda Partridge with Moore in mind. [Where to stream Magnolia]

'Boogie Nights' (1997)

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The film that put her on the map, P.T. Anderson’s porn ring portrait of too much, too fast, too soon features Moore among one of the greatest ensemble casts of the ’90s. She plays porn actress Amber Waves, a veteran of sorts, who takes young and upcoming Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) under her wing. And her skirt. [Where to watch Boogie Nights]

'The Hours' (2002)

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In Stephen Daldry’s account of three women, all affected by Virginia Woolf’s transcendent Mrs. Dalloway, Moore plays housewife Laura Brown. Laura has everything: a loving husband, a beautiful little boy, and a cozy California bungalow, but she wants nothing more than to end it all. Moore’s Oscar-nominated performance (which she absolutely should have won for) is one of those rarities that completely breaks your heart and makes you sit back and appreciate the emotional toll it must have taken on the actress during production. [Where to stream The Hours]